It Gets Worse.....

[Oldtimer]

I thought it was just a frame rate issue - but tonight on the dogfight server I got the stutters, then the game locked up and finally crashed completely - 3 times. Could anybody suggest where I might start please....

[Jabo]

I'd probably do a fresh install from scratch if it was me but you may not want to do that.

Jabo

[GreyKnight]

You installed a new Anti-Virus or other software recently?

[Oldtimer]

I'd probably do a fresh install from scratch if it was me but you may not want to do that.

Jabo

I ran the BD track on an old install of 2.0n and got 72 average, 23 minimum on perfect, with all the background services running. On RC4 I get minimum of 11 with all the services switched off. I also tried an offline single mission (RC4) - A62m Airbase Strike - not particularly high-stress it seems to me. Framerate went down to 3 - on excellent! Does this suggest the current install is where the problem is?

@GK - no new software installed recently

EDIT - Have done a fresh install starting from out-of-the-box. Switched off everything I can, including AV and firewall. Only 26 processes running (XP sp3). BD shows av of 61, 13 min on perfect. Maybe I'll have to live with it?

[Rico]

Might try adjusting some of the setting for RC4, slide RAM up and down a little. Have you tried downloading new video drivers? What card are you using? Might even try older drivers as well. Might try it windowed too and see what that does to the framerate.

[Oldtimer]

Thanks Rico. have spent a couple of days playing with the settings but no improvement. Am now thinking of upgrading the video card from a Radeon HD 4850, 512Mb DDR3 to an HD 4870 with 1Gb (or even 2) of DDR5. Is that likely to help do you think?

[Jabo]

I'd probably have a look to see if there's something hogging your CPU cycles before buying anything new. How long since you last did a full format and reinstall?

Oh, and you know that screen you now get before the game starts to load where you can change your memory settings etc? Could you post a screenie of that and I'll compare it with mine.

Jabo

[Oldtimer]

This one Jabo? I've slid the sliders up, and I've slid the sliders down - no apparent difference.

[Rico]

Have you checked Expert Mode and selected the 4BG Address Space option?

I'm not sure a new video card is the right answer. Not a bad one by any means, but it might be a little premature, unless you've just decided that you really want one. My problem with that being that it worked before, and doesn't work now, unless I missed that part. That would suggest it's not a hardware problem, and be more likely to be an issue with setting, file corruption, or something like that.

What version of windows are you running? We might just nuke all your video card drivers and have the system redetect it and reinstall.

I'll look up the card when I get a chance (might not be until tomorrow, though) I personally am more of an nVidia guy, but ATI does do good cards. They're drivers just occasionally leave something to be desired.

[Oldtimer]

Hi Rico,

Have enabled the 4Gb address space option and run a couple more tests with the BD track:

RC4 gives an average of 57, min of 11 on perfect, and av of 66, min 21 on excellent

An older install of 4.09m gives:

Av of 76, min 20 on perfect, and av of 71, min of 22 on excellent.

Now I'm even more confused! I can live without perfect if I have to, but can't live with the stutters and the odd crash.

[Rico]

Hmm. This is certainly a bit of a tough one. That's for sure. These things are always confusing, honestly. Unless you get lucky and the answer is obvious, you usually have this wierd trial and error troubleshooting. It sucks, I know. Just hang in there.

btw, I looked into the card, and the 4870 is a good card with fairly low amount of driver issues. How much are you looking to spend? This is completely personal preference, but I'd be tempted to look at the nVidia GTX 450, they have them on newegg for under $200, and I think pretty well under $200. The 4870 probably benchmarks a little higher, but the 450 has Directx11 support. Rise of Flight supports Dx11, so it MIGHT be worth it. Of course, RoF is such a hog, I'm not sure how well that card would do. Seems like it'd do well, but I don't know for sure.

Other advantages to the 450 is that it pulls less power, so the upgrade means you won't need to look into your power supply and see if you need to upgrade. I think both are pretty solid choices from what I can see, though. No real wrong answer here.

Back to troubleshooting, though. What version of Windows? I'll write out instructions for how to get rid of the drivers for your current card, and we'll reinstall and see what happens. Could be a driver issue. Also, it's possible that something is running in the background causing problems, so we can look at both in one smooth series of steps. Just let me know what OS you have.

[Oldtimer]

Hi Rico,

Am running XP SP3 at the moment. Have not done too much in the way of trying different vid drivers, but always uninstall/install using Driver Cleaner. Currently running catalyst 09.10, a fairly old set, but they have always given acceptable performance with no issues, so if they ain't broke, I didn't try to fix 'em.

I also use alacrity pc to switch off all unnecessary services, and in desperation have even stopped AV and firewall. That leaves me with just 26 processes running.

Don't have any particular preference for video cards - all I ask is that they give me a decent framerate. The 4870 or GTX 450 are both available on ebay for an affordable price.

Current rig is a Foxconn X38A board, E8400 chip, 2Gb DDR2 - I think 1333, but I can't seem to get it to run any higher than 667, and a Corsair 750w psu .

[DD_Brando]

667 x 2 = 1334, your memory is on song OT.

The 4870 is a good improvement over the 4850 with the extra vRAM. You have plenty of spare power with a 750W Corsair. Even better if you can find one is the 4890; that was a real flier. I sold mine to Rog - I think he liked it.

The 4870 only supports DX10.1, but without Windows 7 you're not going to be able to use anything above DX9 anyway. (Well, there is Vista - but you don't want to go there)

It might be worth investigating whether the E8400 can be overclocked at all.

And a format/reinstall might bring your Win XP back on form. I used to find it got cludged up after a year or two.

[BadAim]

OT, if you're running a 32 bit system you don't want to run the 4gig address space option, that's only for 64 bit. That could be your problem right there.

[Oldtimer]

Thanks BA, but I only tried that at Rico's suggestion before he realised I was still running 32 bit - the problem was there before.

[Rico]

Okay, OT. Here's the basic run-down on what you want to do. Let me know if you get to a step and it doesn't make sense, or you don't see it. I don't have XP in front of me, so I'm having to do this from memory. =)

First thing we want to do is download the latest drivers for your card, which I'm betting you already have done.

Just put them on your Desktop or something so you can get to them easily later.

Next, we need to uninstall any software they may have installed. Go to Start>Run, type appwiz.cpl and hit enter. That should launch the add-remove programs window. Look for anything that says ATI. It'll probably be something like ATI Catalyst, or something like that. It's been a really long time since I had an ATI card, so I don't know for sure.

Once the software is gone, Start->Run, type devmgmt.msc and you should get the Device Manager window. Near the top of the list, hit the plus symbol next to Display Adapters and drop that down. Double-click the video card (if you see more than one here, let me know), that should pop up the properties for the ATI card, go to the Driver tab, and select Uninstall down at the bottom. Just walk through this and choose the obvious options to uninstall that card. If you have any questions, feel free to stop and post and wait for an answer.

Now, let's disable anything running in the background on boot. Start->Run, type msconfig and hit enter. This starts the system configuration utility. Go to the Startup tab (probably last tab on the window). You'll have to use a little thought here, but you're going to go down through the list and uncheck everything in it. Anything that's specifically required to allow you to work on the computer, leave. That means that if printer software shows up, you'll get rid of it. If there's software there for your mouse, then you might just leave that. (Later when you reboot the computer, you're going to get a message about system settings being customized or something like that. Just check the box that says "do not show me this again" and hit okay.)

Okay, now we've done that, we need to boot into Safe Mode real quick. To do this, Start-> Shutdown->Restart. As it comes up, there'll be a point where the screen goes black just before the Windows splashscreen comes up. When you get there, start tapping the F8 key. You should get a menu and be able to arrow up to Safe Mode. Hit Enter and let the computer boot. It'll come up in a really run-down looking form of Windows (jokes about the true nature of Windows comes to mind, but I need to stay on topic!). You'll have to log in (as administrator if it offers it as an alternative choice. Once in, follow the directions above to get to Device Manager, and then to your Display Adapters. Right-click and delete/uninstall all the video cards listed there.

Close everything, reboot, and when you come back up, run the install script fot the files you downloaded. That should install your video card and then ask you to reboot, go ahead.

When you're back up again, try the game.

If it's works, awesome. Just go back to msconfig (as above), but this time, you'll be re-checking the stuff you want loading. If you see something you know you don't want, it's okay to leave it unchecked. (remember on the next reboot, you'll get that message again because you've made a change.)

I know it seems a little long, but it's actually pretty straight forward. I don't think you'll have any trouble with it. Good luck! PM me if you have problems, and I'll get you my phone number so you can call me.

[Jabo]

Given that you're on a 32-bit system, there's no point in us comparing settings (for that screen anyway) as I've transitioned to 64-bit. Not much help, sorry m8.

Jabo

[Crash]

Have a look at this post OT graphics set up

[Oldtimer]

@Rico - I followed your instructions to the letter, including latest video drivers.

@Crash - tweaked the conf file as stated.

The figures for the BD track on perfect are: Av - 85 max - 273 min - 28. Seems very flyable to me. Shame about the pilot........

A result I think.

Thankyou Gentlemen! :icon_salut: